The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is an audio based action-adventure game that places you in the worn leather boots of a blind adventurer. This means that you play the game as a blind person not as a person that can see playing a blind person. This is an audio game which means you have to listen to everything and react to sound. There are no visual components. The only visual components are a black screen with dots which indicate the density of sound for those that can see and a map which is also read to you so you don’t really have to say it. This is truly a game that you can play with your screen turned off, your eyes closed, your lights closed and have a lot of fun with it.
The game has specialized 3D audio which provides an incredibly immersive gaming experience, which I admit was amazing. It is a game where you are going to have to learn to listen and react to sounds, parry your enemies’ attacks simply by listening to them swing their swords or use your shield to block them.
This is truly an emotionally engaging story with high-quality sound and voice performance. If you are one of those people that can emerge themselves into a game this is definitely a game for you. Headphones are recommended for the best experience by the company and I have to agree with them. On top of that I will say that closing your eyes will also help you get into the skin of the character.
This game is definitely not for everyone because it is an audio game and we’re all used on visual stimuli. However if you are looking for something totally different, a brand new experience, a game that can transport you into its world, a game that you can really live in, this is a game for you. The only bad thing I have to report about this game is the fact that it is only 5 hours long. Honestly I wish this game was 10, maybe 20 hours long to enjoy it even more than those five hours.
The story itself is a typical story of a princess that got lost and has to go back home meeting a few people along the way building skills in order to do so. As always there are a lot of conspiracies, betrayal and all the nice spicy things you expect in a tail like this.
There isn’t any more to say about this game except go get it and have a lot of fun.I am definitely going to give this game for the first time 10/10 simply because its innovative, different, amazing audio game and it is one of the few games I have truly enjoyed in the last 5 years.
I hope that you will enjoy it as well if you decide to give it a go. A small warning if you do try the game, try the game with an open mind because you will have to close your eyes, relax and emerge yourself into the game and become one with the sounds and reacting to them. If you are unable to do that you will definitely feel this is a really bad game and a waste of time, so make sure you’re one of those that can have an open mind and you really want to try something unique and different.